Sunday, November 30, 2014

The girl looked at her computer screen and sighed, it was time for her very
last blog entry. It was strange to think that her FYS was ending; after all it
was only like October- right? All denial of the class she loved ending aside
however, she really had learned a lot in her FYS and had come a long way in how
she viewed fairy tales.

Some of the most memorable things she had learned involved Bruno
Bettelheim and his...interesting interpretations of the symbols in fairy tales.
Namely that pretty much everything relates to sex or sexual maturity in some
way. It was slightly weird for her to learn that the tales she had heard or
watched as a kid involved so many sexual themes and ideas.

She also had loved learning new tales and not only the ones that are well
known and even though the class did not solely study Grimm tales that were
turned into Disney movies, she liked learning about the less well known tales
and seeing less well known movie adaptations of these tales. It was interesting
to see how the movies changed the different tales and to identify why they made
these changes. Usually it was to make the tale more appropriate for children or
more conforming to the zeitgeist.

In learning about the tales and their deeper meanings, she learned how to
better analyze fairy tales and other texts to find lessons and metaphors that
are not immediately apparent. She also learned that fairy tales have other uses
than just being used as lessons for children. They are, for instance, very useful
in therapy in helping the patient to identify their problem and potentially
figure out a solution to it with the help of the therapist.

She also became a better writer through the essays assigned. She needed to
think in a different way to be able to successfully write the first one and
through that, applied what she had learned in class to be able to find meanings
in something she initially thought she would be unable to analyze. She learned
to be concise in her essays, to get her point across without being overly
wordy. She also learned that specificity is an important part of essays to be
better able to illustrate a point.

The most important thing she had learned however was that a group of
strangers thrown together for a class could end up being a lot closer than they
ever would expect. Even though an almost ridiculous amount of things happened
to this group, they would support each other and end up being similar to a
family. In talking with her friends in other FYS’s, she learned that she had a
very special FYS and that not all the FYS’s were as close as hers. She would
always be thankful and feel lucky that she had been put in this FYS with the
all the amazing people she met and although it was sad to be leaving, she would
not have changed any of it.

Sunday, November 23, 2014

The comic I chose was drawn by Norman Jung. It depicts Rapunzel throwing the
key down the tower to the prince, but he accidently gets hit on the head
and gets knocked out at the base of the tower.

It is sometimes wondered how Rapunzel did not know about the secret stairs
that Mother Gothel would have had to use until she was old enough to
pull her up and her hair was long enough. This comic shows a humorous
idea of what could have happened even if she had known about it and the
potential problems that could have stemmed from that.

If the story had been depicted in a way similar to the cartoon, it would
have been very different and potentially a lot shorter. If the key hit the
prince on the head and killed him, then presumably Rapunzel could have lost her
only way out of the tower. It also raises the question of why she could not
just go down and unlock the door from the other side. It also shows that the
traditional way of getting into the tower, Rapunzel's hair, is potentially
a better way because even though it is awkward and time consuming, the
prince would not get knocked out from something falling on his head. The
cartoon does not make any mention of the witch or even imply of her. In
contrast, Rapunzel is the one who has the power to get into the tower through
her possession of the key. This could also imply that she has the power to
leave, however she, for some reason, cannot let herself out of the tower and
needs the prince to let her out.

The cartoon by Norman Jung shows a very different idea of what could have
happened in the tale of Rapunzel and how even though we sometimes question why
she did not find the door earlier and use it, the traditional way of the story
can work better.

Sunday, November 9, 2014

And then she died a horrible, gruesome, bloody, painful death....or
actually she didn't, because she was saved by her brothers or the power of
the narrative or by covering herself in feathers and honey and pretending she
was a bird.

The story of "Bluebeard", "The Robber Bridegroom"
and "The Fitcher's Bird" are all fairly similar: there is a girl
either just married or about to be married, she goes somewhere she shouldn't
and narrowly escapes certain terrible death by either summoning help or saving
herself. The heroines in these tales are different than in many others in that
they play a key role in being saved. Although an old crone protects the young
fiancé in "The Robber Bridegroom" and the young bride's brothers come
to her rescue in "Bluebeard", the two heroines do play a part in
their salvation: the fiancé in revealing her bridegroom's true nature and the
bride in stalling Bluebeard and signaling for help from her brothers. Only in “The
Fitcher’s Bird” does the heroine escape solely on her own cunning without any
help from others. There is also the theme in each of these of curiosity
especially in women being very detrimental or dangerous.

I liked all three of the stories for the most part. I do not agree with the
idea that curiosity is dangerous, because no one would learn anything if no one
was curious. I think I liked “The Fitcher’s Bird” the best however. I liked how
the heroine saved her sisters and herself completely on her own merit and was
able to kill the sorcerer who had been terrorizing everyone. Most of the time
in fairy tales, the men are depicted as cunning and smart while the women are
prizes or overly passive and waiting for a prince so I liked how the tale
deviated in that aspect from the fairy tale norm.

Although, I didn’t like the tale as much, I liked how in “The Robber Bridegroom”
the girl was able to save her life through the power of the narrative. I have
always believed that words are some of the most powerful things that we can use
and I liked how that was reflected in the tale.

I liked all three tales-even though I don’t agree with the “curiosity is
dangerous” lesson- because they are very different than the other Grimm tales
and I liked how the heroines were instrumental in their own salvation instead
of passively waiting to be saved.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

The comic by Chris Hallbeck depicts the classic exchange between Little Red
Riding Hood and the wolf she believes is her grandmother, but with a bit of a
twist. Instead of responding in a way that would imply that the wolf was going
to eat Little Red, his responses deviate, given the more comments she makes. By
the end, it almost appears that the wolf actually is her grandmother or has at
least taken on the characteristics of her.

I personally like the cartoon because I think it's a funny take on what the
response would be if the wolf actually was her grandmother or forgot that he
was acting to be able to eat Little Red. I think it shows an interesting
perspective of what would happen if the wolf had lost focus on his ultimate
goal of eating Little Red along with her grandmother. I thought it was amusing
how the wolf became so focused on tricking Little Red, that at the end, he
became more of the indignant grandmother instead of the big, bad, scary
creature he was supposed to represent. It shows how in acting like someone or
something else, you can actually take on some of the characteristics and ideas
of them. It was also interesting how it showed how her grandmother probably
would have responded if Little Red had just walked in and started making her
observations.

Overall, I thought the comic was funny and showed a different way that the conversation
could have ended, especially if the wolf became sidetracked by Little Red’s
comments.